My friend, Tim, who works at the Ale and the Witch summed up last night’s 8-2 loss in layman’s terms,
Hellickson was Hellickson, Dickey was Dickey, and the Blue Jays offense was the Blue Jays offense.
I can’t argue with his assessment of the game.
Check out the spikes, when the Rays had a chance to win the game. (Source: FanGraphs)
The New What Next
…A battle of power arms. Chris Archer will take the mound against hurler Marcus Stroman and the Toronto Blue Jays Wednesday night. After being touched for six runs (five earned) on 10 hits against the Rays on August 22nd, Stroman (8-5, 3.88 ERA) held the Red Sox to only one earned run in 7-2/3 innings of work. Despite an excellent home record and ERA, Stroman is 2-3, with a 6.33 ERA on the road. Per his scouting report on BaseballAmerica.com, his change up still needs work, though his fastball and slider appear ready for the big time. You can read about the pitching matchup in our series preview.
Rays 9/3/14 Starting Lineup
Zobrist 2B
Myers RF
Joyce LF
Longoria 3B
Loney 1B
Escobar SS
DeJesus DH
Molina C
Kiermaier CF
Archer RHP
Noteworthiness
- For Hellickson, “Sometimes it’s not just about establishing the fastball,” writes DRaysBay’s Ian Malinowski. And as someone who was looking for that one sweeping, put away breaking pitch, I’d have to agree.
- “It’s become clear Lightning owner Jeff Vinik is moving ahead with plans for development in downtown Tampa without a baseball stadium on his collection of properties,” writes Times columnist John Romano, in a piece about a potential breakthrough in the Stadium Saga. I’d remind Romano, that Vinik has long argued that he wants nothing to do with the Rays stadium debacle, and it’s local journalists — like himself — who’ve beat the drums for a Vinik developed stadium in downtown Tampa, not Vinik himself.